Make bread is my ship now

Couple of months back, my mum bought a Joyoung Bread Maker machine and gave it to us as present. At that time my wife was the captain of this breadmaking ship.

After a while, she showed me how to do (banana can't read chinese) and now its my task as the new captain of making bread since baby E and wife enjoyed it so much.

At least i know what we are eating in our bread nowadays and no more paying so highly inflated prices at the bakery for few pieces of buns with some butter or whatnot.







Here is the recipe i have & sequence of how-to for 750g bread.
All use the cup & spoon from the bread maker.

a) Break egg into the measurement cup

b) Add brown sugar liquid+water (can replace with water/milk/blended pumpkin) up to 240ml

c) Transfer this content to the baking tray

d) Add 3/4 spoon salt using small side 

e) Add 1 large spoon b/white sugar (2spoon if not using brown sugar liquid)

f) Add 2 large spoon milk powder

g) Add 1 large spoon cooking oil

h) Add 1 cup ~240ml multipurpose flour (ROS seems to be local favourite) 

i) Add 3/4 cup of instant oatmeal, i mix in rolled oat if available. out of stock currently.

j) Add 1 cup ~240ml of high protein flour (RM3.20 per pack, ~3times use each pack).

k) Add 3/4 cup of instant yeast (RM2.70 for a bottle, so many times used i think at least 10 bakes)

l) Turn on power, set #1 for bread, weight & time desired. Hit Start button (with red LED) the machine.
m) After a while, kneading starts. ~5-10minutes later on first beep, dump your sunflower seed/sesame seed/nuts/raisins (recommended) and anything you fancy to the bread.
n) Use wooden chopstick/spoon to clear up ingredients stuck at corners/sides to the kneading lump.
o) Sit tight and let the machine do its magic.

 * water content is most important, too little won't do, too watery the bread won't raise properly when baked.
* multipurpose flour can replace high protein, only 3-5% less protein content, just dont overdo it think, so far no failure with this mixture.
* Update: make sure don't skip sugar. 1 failure so far since i thought i could replace sugar with milo.

Top left button - change options (bread,knead kuih,soya..etc)

Bottom left button - baking colour (light or dark=crunchy skin?)

Center (+ or -) - change baking time. Min time: 2:54 for bread

Top right - Power (on/off/stop/resume)

Bottom right - weight.

Sorry on the bad photo, was half awake and didn't bother to turn on all lighting this morning, it's ok to let the bread sit in several hours after baking done.

Slice mode.

Teflon (silver-gray coating) seems pretty harmless. Did a quick read up and its only harmful up to >260 C and above which is way above this machine's heat capacity for bread making anyway. However they are susceptible to scratches, thus the instruction manual saying no metal apparatus to be used in the tray. Scratched teflon is still not a biggie, main concern most likely be the aluminium or whatnot metal inside that may get into our bread. So be careful with the tray & the kneading blade!

Oh. blogger wondermummy is even more power. She does many things with this machine.
One notable thing is the health issue ya. See the bread experiment someone did under her blogpost showing the terror of food preservative nowadays =)

Zentangle art

Was introduced to zentangle when we went to Kepong Tzu Chi two weeks ago for annual appreciation gathering. (probably wrongly translated). They do good job on raising awareness on recycling and volunteer work globally.

For us, we managed to only bring our little girl to participate in BMC neighbourhood recycling on Saturdays whenever we have enough recyclables to bring over.

Anyway, back to the topic i find zentangle quite interesting. Kind of puts you into meditative state. Get some ideas on how to draw something and then just go free flow, just pen and paper no eraser no need correction.

If got some free time can do a bit here n there. So much to do, so little time

DIY project ideas for toddlers

Keeping these links from wifey.

http://mrprintables.com/my-weather-station.html

http://mrprintables.com/pop-up-house-party-invitation.html

http://mrprintables.com/paper-ice-creams.html

http://mrprintables.com/paper-island-crowded-teeth.html

http://mrprintables.com/my-paper-world-wild-green.html


This is so cute and free, it can be our project 1 for 1 month + . i print 1st one and let make it for baby this week.

Try to look at Mr Printable, there are lot of activity and it is free. I use to print some flash card for baby from there. http://mrprintables.com/kids-printable-activities.html

Pretty challenging considering the last project i completed for baby was the motor runaway..not very durable la...make from recycled toilet rolls, cardboard box and some plastic. It's now a in a sad wrecked condition, pending repair =(

Get fit 2016

Ya i know, not the first post i had on this topic. Saw some work out routine for beginners that i wanna pick up. Go for at least 2 times workout/jog each week to keep fit and burn the fat (so that i can keep wearing the same pairs i have haha).

Got the idea from a facebook video post. Will look up the link  later. (credit to Jordan Yeoh)
Here is the beginner circuit list and my adapted version:

a) Squats - 25 x (or 30 sec)
b) Push ups - 10 x (or 20 sec)
c) Jumping jacks - 25 x (or 30 sec)
d) Flutter kicks - 25x (30 sec)
e) butt kicks  -25x (30sec)
f) vertical jumps -10x (30 sec)
g) hand stand 5x (just for fun)

3 reps (or 3 rounds), take a 1-2 min break when necessary. For advanced level i think can go without any break between reps. Yesterday just managed to 2nd rep and go for 30min jog on wobbly legs before coming back for another 2 reps.

Was breathless by 2nd rep yesterday, that shows my poor level of stamina and fitness level at current moment. For higher difficulty can do prison squat (hold both arms up to the back of head). Busted my arms by second rep pushup- was going for 20 per set too much for poor arms that only do keyboards & carry baby a littte here and there daily. Rep 3&4 are wimpy push ups on knees just to finish the count.=(

Motivation & reminder: got myself a MiBand. The data recording not working right now, but its ok. Just to monitor daily steps and use it as alarm. Average jog hits 8-10k steps ,thats about 4-5km if i pus up to 40min jog. After the workout and 30min jog it easily bumps to 10k steps before i start rep3/4.

Thighs and arms feeling the pain now, maybe need to go baby steps and tone down, upgrade gradually. Well, hopefully can keep the self-discipline and the time for this.

2016 already?

life with a hyperactive baby is always busy. didn't realize 1 year already slipped past.
some recaps on 2015.

1
After moved to new group (still same company) was struggling for ~3months and then came another whirlwind re-org internally. Now 7 months into my new role, its kind of ok for short term, my only complain will be the long commute to and fro office. 1 hr in the morning and 1.5 to 2hr at normal conditions in the evening. there are some hidden advantages of being here..ahem..On a more positive note, our project seems to be in better shape. Hit target quite well and we're relaxed on last week of year, cheers to that =)

2
baby girl is now a chatterbox, although there are still many things that i can't make out their meaning hahaha. she probably have potential as a singer..able to remember a song word sounds after 1-2 times hearing it, pretty impressive. she is a late walker, started at about 13 mth mark, but now is always on run gear (hardly ever in walking mode).

due to spending so much time in car i think i put up some weight already. ya dear wife complain liao, buy seluar (pants) also need bigger 1. Last week was my brother's wedding and my coat i bought few years back barely fit. Time to get fit.

3
its beens very busy year. sad thing for the blog. no post for 2015 at all  T_T
from montessori to outdoor play and creating diy toys for baby. weekends started to have some routine either to playground, indoor playground @ Aeon (if it rains) , get her weekly soy bean drink fix, or go to swimming pool or putrajaya pullman lakeside for some sand activity.

came by ck5354's blog. simple and nice which sparked my desire to come back to blogging. at least from time to time. thanks for the inspiration buddy =)